Public and Private Sculptural Works
David Sheldon earned a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design, in 1984. While at RISD, he was selected for the European Honors Program, which gave him a year in Rome, Italy to study and practice painting. Sheldon went on to earn a MFA from the University of Maryland in 1990. While a grad student at UMD, Sheldon received an internship with the Smithsonian Institution’s Model-making Department, spending a semester learning model-making processes. Also, at this time, Sheldon worked as sculptor's assistant to James Sanborn on his monumental sculptural installation, “Kryptos”, at the Central Intelligence Agency, in Langley, Virginia.
Sheldon received a Maryland Individual Artist Grant in 1991, for his sculptural works. In 1995, he received a “Best of Show” award, for his sculptural, diorama pieces in “Tributaries’, a sculpture show curated by Lee Fleming, then chief Art Critic for the Washington Post. A successful solo show of paintings and sculpture followed, at the Troyer, Fitzpatrick, Lassman Gallery in Washington, D.C. in 1997.
In 1999, Sheldon switched gears, moving with his wife and young family to New York City, where he launched a career in children’s books. Acquiring renowned agent, Ms. Ronnie Ann Herman, Sheldon went on to author and illustrate over a hundred books for children, in the trade and educational markets. Clients have included: Harper Collins Publishers, Scholastic Publishing, Walker & Company, Charlesbridge Publishing, Highlights for Children, Zondervan Publishing, and many others.
In 2008, Sheldon moved his family once again, this time to the Asheville area of Western North Carolina. He resumed his Fine Art activities, teaching in local colleges and beginning a burgeoning Public Art career with newly acquired skills in designing and welding metal sculpture. In 2010, Sheldon was awarded an Individual Artist Grant by the Henderson County Arts Council for his sculpture work. Sheldon exhibited both paintings and sculpture at the Asheville Airport, in 2011. A solo show of large-scale paintings and sculpture at the Satellite Gallery in Asheville followed, in 2015.
Recent highlights include commissions for two, 20’ high, aluminum sculptures for the city of Greeley, Colorado, in 2016-17, for their Uptown Tree Project. In 2018, Sheldon designed, fabricated and installed, “Mars Cutter”, on the Greenway of Mars Hill University in Madison County, NC. This sculpture honors the work of Advanced Superabrasives, whose cutting wheels are on NASA’s Mars Rovers. It is the first sculpture for the Madison County Manufacturing Art Park, which will utilize local sculptors in highlighting local manufacturers.
In 2020, so far, “Fa Sol” ( a ‘Skyworks’ piece) has been installed at the Art Walk in Coral Springs, Florida. Also, “Guidance Tower”, has been selected as the new sculpture for the 811/911 Call Center in Roanoke, Va, and is currently being fabricated, and will be installed in early April.
